the frontier, a matter of ten miles or so, out of reach of the arm of the law. There he was reproached with the disgrace brought on the family, indeed on the whole tribe, because of this talk of turning Christian.
The Afghans are fanatical Moslems; the Son of God is despised and rejected by the people of the frontier, and to become one of His followers is to lose all honour, and may not be tolerated by followers of the prophet, whose creed is: "There is one God and Mohammed is the prophet of God." There was but one alternative: either the new faith must be given up, or his life. Details are unknown. It is useless to conjecture; the bare fact that was told remains, that the Afridi lad was stoned by his own father and other Mohammedans, because for him there was "no alternative." Who knows? Perhaps for this Stephen of the twentieth century also the heavens opened, and "he saw the glory of God and Jesus."
Mohammedans under the American Flag
An article on this subject by Frank C. Laubach appeared in The Missionary Herald, August, from which we take these paragraphs: Because the Congregational Church has had so much experience with Mohammedans in Turkey, we were intrusted with the Mohammedans in the Philippines. Our territory is the Island of Mindanao, as large as Ireland. It is the Ireland of the Philippines, for it contains three irreconcilable classes—Mohammedans, Pagans and Catholics.
We have been accustomed to calling that our neglected mission field. For seventeen years we had only one ordained missionary and one doctor; they worked among the pagans. Three men and four women have been added, but they are all absorbed with the civilized Filipinos.
We have no Congregational missionary, after twenty-two years, preaching Christ among the Moros. We must stop neglecting the Mohammedans under the American flag, for they are a menace to the Philippines. And the Philippines are one of the vital spots of the world. Must a nation be soaked in massacre before we notice that it is important?
Bishop Oldham says: "The crux of our missionary work in Asia is to be found in the Philippines. If we fail to Christianize the Philippines, we fail to Christianize all Asia. But if we succeed in Christianizing the Philippines, we succeed in all Asia."
From one end of the Philippines to the other you may see watch towers, forts, and walled cities which reveal the terror in which Moro pirates kept Spaniards and Filipinos for 300 years. The Moros never were conquered until America overpowered them. During the World War, Arab Moslems tried to enlist the Moros in a Jehad against Christians. We deported every Arab and Indian, and seized every firearm in Moroland. Every religious uprising in India or Turkey has its echo in Mindanao. So long as the Moros are drunk with the wild fanaticism of Islam, they are sure to make trouble when we withdraw from the Philippines.
Bishop Brent declares that the American Government has prepared the Moros for missionary work so wonderfully that they will probably be the first Mohammedans in the world to come over into Christianity in large numbers.
Just before I left the Philippines we ordained a Moro young man. It was a strange ordination. At his examination somebody asked a question but tears poured down his face and he could not answer. We looked at each other, swallowed hard, and decided that he needed no
